Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Fifth Generation

WILLIAM⁵ MAXFIELD (David⁴, Eliphalet³, Nathaniel², John¹) was born about 1763 at New Hampshire a son of David Maxfield and his wife Judith Clough. He died at Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, on 25 August 1820.^[1] He married ABIGAIL BELCHER. She was perhaps born at Hebron, Windham County [later Tolland County], Connecticut, on 3 March 1765, a daughter of Gilbert Belcher and Eunice Owen. She died at Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, on October 1830.^[2]

D. A. R. records report that William Maxfield was born in 1763 at Piermont, New Hampshire. I do not know the source for this statement, but it is followed by the Genealogical Society of Vermont and assorted on-line sources.^[3] It fits in the census record reports, which in 1800 indicated he was born between 1754 and 1774, and in 1810 reported he was born before 1765.

William Maxfield's wife, Abigail, is identified as Abigail Belcher in family sources.^[4] Her grave marker gives her age, which points to a birth about 1765. According to a letter from Julia (Maxfield) Lamb in 1903, Abigail was born in Connecticut.^[5] The date and place of birth and parentage given above is from D. A. R. records.

I have found no record of the marriage of William Maxfield and Abigail Belcher. As their first child was born in August of 1784, they perhaps married about 1783.

As a child, and the oldest of eight or nine boys, William moved with his family on the northern frontier. He probably spent his early childhood at Wentworth, New Hampshire. His family may have lived for a time at nearby Piermont, New Hampshire. As a teenager he may have been living in the wilds of central Vermont. According to military records, William and his father David enlisted in the Revolutionary cause in 1778 ant Moretown, Vermont. However, although Moretown was chartered in 1763, it was not settled until 1790.

William Maxfield served in Capt. Simeon Steven's Company in the regiment raised for the defense of the frontier on and adjacent to the Connecticut River, beginning 11 April 1778, for 11 months and 20 days.^[6]

William Maxfield was among the first settlers of the Town of Fairfax, Vermont, arriving in 1789. The first settler, Joseph Belcher, had come in 1787.^[7] William Maxfield took the Freeman's Oath there in 1788/9.^[8] William's father and brothers were probably living at Colchester, Chittenden County, Vermont, at the time. By the time of the census in 1791, William and his brother David lived at Fairfax, brothers Isaac and Jacob had moved from Colchester to Georgia, Vermont, and the parents and the rest of the boys were still at Colchester. These communities near Lake Champlain north of Burlington, along with Milton and Westford, would be the home of many of the descendants of these families for generations to come.

Censuses reported this family at Fairfax in 1791, 1800, 1810 and 1820. The information in these censuses giving numbers of persons in various age and sex groupings, corresponds well to what we know of this family from other sources:^[9]

Only two problems occur with these designations. First, Gilbert had married three months before the 1810 Census, and was reported with his wife in another community. I listed him here with his parents, as duplications like this sometimes occur in the census. However, this could have been another relative or hired hand. Second, the 1820 census reported only one female between 10 and 16, and the family had two such daughters living and unmarried. Perhaps one of them was working out?

William Maxfield participated in numerous land transfers in Fairfax and vicinity:

• 30 April 1792, David Maxfield [Jr.], town of Georgia, husbandman, sold to William Maxfield of Fairfax, yeoman, for £ 40, 50 acres "which we were in partnership" and William Maxfield of Fairfax, husbandman, sold to David Maxfield of Georgia, yeoman for £ 20, 30 acres in Fairfax. On this same date David Maxfield, Jr., of Georgia, also sold land to David Maxfield.^[10]
• 20 August 1792, William Maxfield of Fairfax, sold to Silas Squires of Fairfax for £ 180, 100 acres in Fairfax, on the Lamoile River above Great Falls.^[11]
• 8 April 1794, Levi Farnsworth of Westford sold to William Maxfield of Fairfax for £ 11, 30 acres.^[12]
• 12 May 1795, William Maxfield of Fairfax sold to Doct. Ross Coon of Fairfax for £ 24, about 14 acres, part of lot # 110.^[13]
• 16 January 1796, William Maxfield of Fairfax sold to Prince B. Hall of Cambridge for £ 20, a small parcel of land in Fairfax.^[14]
• 17 February 1796, William Maxfield of Fairfax, sold to Ross Coon of Fairfax for £ 15, 5 acres on the south side of land on which Maxfield lived.^[15]
• 7 October 1800, Thomas Russell, Jr., of Piermont, Grafton Co., NH, sold to William Maxfield of Fairfax for $1000, 85 acres in Fairfax; and William Maxfield of Fairfax sold to Thomas Russell, Jr., of Piermont, for $1000 the farm on which Maxfield was living, 70 acres.^[16]
• 12 October 1800, William Maxfield of Fairfax sold to Horace Brown, farmer, of Fairfax, for $3, 2 parcels in Fairfax.^[17]
• Samuel Chadwick of Fairfax mortgaged to William Maxfield of Fairfax the farm on which Chadwick lived, for $400 on 1 May 1802, for $102 on 3 July 1802 and for $360 on 6 October 1802.^[18]
• Land of the farm on which William Maxfield lived was sold at public auction for taxes, and purchased by William Maxfield, on 6 March 1802, 15 acres, for 30 ¢, and on 6 September 50 acres for $163.^[19]
• 20 April 1811, Elizabeth Tressell of Fairfax sold to William Maxfield of Fairfax for $600, land in Fairfax.^[20]
• 14 July 1812, William Maxfield of Fairfax sold to Moses Northrop, Elihu Wolcott and Henry Abbie of Lower Canada, merchants for $492, land in Fairfax.^[21]
• 5 July 1814, William Maxfield of Fairfax sold to James Stickney of Fairfax for $60, 9 ½ acres in Fairfax.^[22]
• 30 March 1815, William Maxfield of Fairfax sold to James Farnsworth of Fairfax for $700 land in Fairfax.^[23]
• 8 November 1817 William Maxfield of Fairfax sold to Joseph Beeman for $200, land in Fairfax.^[24]

William and Abigail Maxfield were members of the Baptist Church of Fairfax. However William was excommunicated on 10 July 1808.^[25] Abigail continued a member until she was dismissed on 19 May 1825,^[26] probably because she was moving.

William Maxfield died at Fairfax on 25 August 1820.^[27] By this time, of their ten known children, one died in infancy, five had married, leaving at home Frances, 18, Harry, 17, Abigail, 13, and Eliza, 12. Frances and Harry married in Vermont in 1824 and 1825 respectively. Abigail (Belcher) Maxfield moved to Ohio, probably about the time of her dismission from the church, to live with her eldest son, Gilbert. She died at Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, on October 1830.^[28]

William Maxfield died without a will, leaving his widow to administer the estate, which appeared insolvent. The land records give the names of all the children, and the husbands of the daughters, relinquishing their claim to land in Fairfax.^[29]

William Maxfield and his wife Abigail Belcher had the following children:

1. (son)⁶ MAXFIELD b. and d. at New Hampshire on 20 August 1784.^[30]
2. Dr. GILBERT BELCHER⁶ MAXFIELD b. prob. at New Hampshire on 17 July 1785.
3. WILLIAM⁶ MAXFIELD b. at New Hampshire on 10 March 1787.
4. JOHN⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 11 June 1789.
5. SUSAN⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Vermont abt. 1790/1;^[31] m. at Fairfax on 2 February 1817 JOSEPH RYASON.^[32]
6. JAMES HARVEY⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 29 January 1797.
7. FRANCES⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 8 July 1802;^[33] d. at Canada on 8 February 1886;^[34] m. at Essex, Chittenden Co., on 29 February 1824 LYMAN BROOKS,^[35] d. on 17 March 1900.^[36]
8. HARRY⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax abt. 1803.
9. ABIGAIL⁶ MAXFIELD b. on September 1806;^[37] d. on 23 November 1866; m. on 1830 ENOS BECKWITH, b. on 1800, d. on 1835.^[38]
10. ELIZA⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 22 September 1807; d. at Mount Vernon, on 28 December 1892;^[39] m. at Knox Co. on 2 November 1827 TRUMAN WARD,^[40] b. at Rutland, Rutland Co., VT, on 19 July 1805, d. at Mount Vernon on 9 February 1886, child of Rufus Ward, Sr., and Mary Freeman.

    Ward, Truman, was born July 19, 1805, in Rutland County, Vermont, came with his parents to Zanesville, Ohio, in 1813, and lived there until 1815, when they came to Miller township, Knox county, and lived there until November 1, 1827, when he came to Mount Vernon. He was married on the same day to Eliza Maxfield, a native of Vermont. They have had a family of nine children, six of whom are living. After his marriage he spent a number of years in the cooper business. He commenced reading medicine in 1847, and graduated at the Willoughby Medical College in 1849, after which he practiced a short time in Mt. Vernon; also in Sunbury, Delaware county, after which he engaged in the drug business, in which he was successfully engaged until November 7, 1878, when in consequence of bad health he sold out and retired from business^[41]

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    NOTES

    ¹Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954; digital images of index cards, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2013); Alison Hitchcock, comp., "Vital Records of Fairfax, Vermont," American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 2013).
    ²Mound View Cemetery, Mount Vernon, Knox Co., OH, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 2012), .
    ³Daughters of the American Revolution, "DAR Genealogical Reserch System: Descendant Database Search," database, Daughters of the American Revolution (dar.org, accessed 2011), No. A075799; "Apple Orchard," Branches and Twigs: Bulletin of the Genealogical Society of Vermont: 24:4.
    ⁴Julia Maxfield Lamb, to William Cullen Maxfield, Letter, 7 May 1903; held in by Jack Bilow, Plattsburg, NY 12901. Copy included with correspondence to Charles A. Maxfield, 31 October 2012; Frederick Gilmore Maxfield, The Family Tree; supplied by Clysta Maxfield Jones, Brookfield, MO 64628, 28 June 2004; mimeographed. prepared after 1905.
    ⁵Julia Maxfield Lamb to William Cullen Maxfield, 7 May 1903.
    ⁶Nathaniel Bouton et al, editors, Documents and Records Relating to New Hampshire, 1623-1800, 40 (Concord, Manchester, Nashua and Bristol, NH: n.p., 1867), 15:587.
    ⁷"Township Information: Fairfax," database, Rootsweb (rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vermont/FranklinFairfax.html : accessed 2012); extracted from John A. Ufford, History of the Town of Fairfax (N.p.:n.p.n.d.).
    ⁸Ibid.
    ⁹First Census of the United States: 1790, population, Fairfax, Chittenden Co., VT, 12:160; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012); Second Census of the United States: 1800, population, Fairfax, Franklin Co., VT, 51:424; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012); Third Census of the United States: 1810, population, Fairfax, Franklin Co., VT, 64:619; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012); Fourth Census of the United States: 1820, population, Fairfax, Franklin Co., VT, 127:82; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012).
    ¹⁰Town of Fairfax, VT, Deeds, 1:120-22; Fairfax Town Clerk, Fairfax, Franklin Co., VT.
    ¹¹Ibid., 1:124.
    ¹²Ibid., 2:49.
    ¹³Ibid., 1:240-41.
    ¹⁴Ibid., 2:122-23.
    ¹⁵Ibid., 2:8.
    ¹⁶Ibid., 2:244-45.
    ¹⁷Ibid., 2:243.
    ¹⁸Ibid., 4:135-36,219.
    ¹⁹Ibid., 4:137-38.
    ²⁰Ibid., 6:101.
    ²¹Ibid., 6:403.
    ²²Ibid., 6:350.
    ²³Ibid., 6:402.
    ²⁴Ibid., 7:71.
    ²⁵"Membership Records of the Baptist Church, Fairfax, Vt," Vermont Genealogy, 4: 32.
    ²⁶Ibid.
    ²⁷Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954.
    ²⁸Mound View Cemetery.
    ²⁹Franklin County, Vermont, Probate Records, M:55-61; digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org: accessed 2013); Town of Fairfax, VT, Deeds, 8:196.
    ³⁰"Vermont and New Hampshire Births," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 104 (1950): 120.
    ³¹before 1791 in 1791 census; 1790-1800 in 1800 Census; 1784-1794 in 1810 Census.
    ³²Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954; Raymond, Fairfax Genealogy Listing.
    ³³Iola Wylie, "Queries: Maxfield," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 126 (1972): 233; "Apple Orchard," 24:4.
    ³⁴Waterloo Cemetery, Waterloo, Quebec, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 2013).
    ³⁵Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954
    ³⁶Waterloo Cemetery.
    ³⁷Carolyn Strohecker to Charles A. Maxfield, e-mail message, from [e-mail for private use] ([street address for private use]), to Charles A. Maxfield, 27 July 2011. Ttranscription of DAR lineages,
    ³⁸Ibid.
    ³⁹Mound View Cemetery.
    ⁴⁰Cynthia Herrin, "Konx County, Ohio, Vital Records, 1800-1882," Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
    ⁴¹N. H. Hill, History of Knox County, Ohio: its past and present, containing a condensed, comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Knox County, its townships, cities, towns, villages, schools, churches, societies, industries, statistics, etc., a record of its soldiers in the late war, portraits of its early settlers and prominent men, views of its finest buildings, miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of pioneer families, etc. (Mount Vernon, OH: A. A. Graham & Co., 1881), 829; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013.
    

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    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    "Apple Orchard." Branches and Twigs: Bulletin of the Genealogical Society of Vermont.

    Bouton, Nathaniel et al, editors. Documents and Records Relating to New Hampshire, 1623-1800. 40. Concord, Manchester, Nashua and Bristol, NH: n.p., 1867.

    Daughters of the American Revolution. "DAR Genealogical Reserch System: Descendant Database Search." Database. Daughters of the American Revolution. dar.org, 2011

    Fairfax, Vermont, Town of.. Deeds. Fairfax Town Clerk, Fairfax, Franklin Co., VT.

    Franklin County, Vermont. Probate Records. Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org: 2013.

    Herrin, Cynthia. "Konx County, Ohio, Vital Records, 1800-1882." Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

    Hill, N. H. History of Knox County, Ohio: its past and present, containing a condensed, comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Knox County, its townships, cities, towns, villages, schools, churches, societies, industries, statistics, etc., a record of its soldiers in the late war, portraits of its early settlers and prominent men, views of its finest buildings, miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of pioneer families, etc. Mount Vernon, OH: A. A. Graham & Co., 1881. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013

    Hitchcock, Alison, comp. "Vital Records of Fairfax, Vermont." American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2013.

    Lamb, Julia Maxfield, to William Cullen Maxfield, 30 March 1903; letter, held by Jack Bilow, Plattsburgh, NY 12901. Copy included with correspondence to Charles A. Maxfield, 31 October 2012.

    "Membership Records of the Baptist Church, Fairfax, Vt." Vermont Genealogy 4: 32-37, 83, 127.

    Mound View Cemetery, Mount Vernon, Knox Co., OH. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2012.

    Strohecker, Carolyn, to Charles A. Maxfield. E-mail message, 27 July 2011. Ttranscription of DAR lineages.

    "Township Information: Fairfax." Database. Rootsweb. rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vermont/FranklinFairfax.html. Extracted from John A. Ufford, History of the Town of Fairfax. N.p.: n.p.n.d..

    United States, Department of the Census. First Census of the United States: 1790, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

    ________. Second Census of the United States: 1800, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

    ________. Third Census of the United States: 1810, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

    ________. Fourth Census of the United States: 1820, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

    "Vermont and New Hampshire Births." New England Historical and Genealogical Register 104 (1950): 21-26, 114-22.

    Vermont Vital Records, 1760-1954. Digital images of index cards. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2013.

    Waterloo Cemetery, Waterloo, Quebec. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2013.

    Wylie, Iola. "Queries: Maxfield." New England Historical and Genealogical Register 126 (1972): 233-34.

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